Dark before the Light
by KittyKate
Summary: (AU) Before Day of Reckoning, the after effects of the soccer game lead to an event that alerts the world to the reality of mutants. The consequences of power in the wrong hands in this twist on anti-Xavier. *Third Chapter up, the Fight Begins.*
1. To Be a Fool

Dark before the Light  
  
Warnings: Angst, possible language, so far.  
  
Pairings: None as of yet.  
  
Summary:Chuck tries to fix something; Anti-Xavier but not really. The beginning of bad things.  
  
A/N: Story writing is not my thing. Instead, I write nice, neat, short and possibly interesting poems. Story writing is not my thing, don't expect it to be, but this idea has been bugging me for the last few months and, well, this is the beginning. Tell me what you think.  
  
  
  
  
  
It was morning, not quite full light, and the house seemed dormant in the pre-dawn glow. Hidden computer lines and camouflaged cameras hummed quietly at their work, guarding the safety of the children who lived in this too-large, too empty house for the troubled youths of the future, each child complete with nifty super powers, character fronts, and enough mental confusion and doubts to keep an open-minded psychiatrist busy for decades. The mansion was still except for two figures who crept quietly down the corridor.  
  
One possessed all the quiet grace and fierce violence of a cougar, stalking beside the other with an air of constant anger. The other, harmless- looking, was gliding along in the stiff confines of a wheelchair, seemingly oblivious to his companion's frustration. Not that an angry Wolverine was a rare sight, the man seemed to find fury in every part of existence that he came across. Today's reason did not become apparent until the two had entered the lower levels of the basement, the space between this floor and those of the children's rooms enabling them to talk without fear of waking even the lightest sleepers in the mansion. Only when they stood before the door to Cerebro did Logan speak.  
  
"Look, Chuck, I appreciate you invitin' me along an' all, but are you sure this is such a good idea?" As he spoke, Logan watched with a concerned eye as Charles Xavier unlocked the door to the main room of Cerebro, perhaps the most advanced and most dangerous computer in the country, and likely the world. "I mean, I know you've been havin' some bad dreams, but messin' with your powers might just make 'em worse. I mean, why's it so important for you to get a grip on your own head? You seem fine to me. You're more in control of your powers now than most of the students could hope to be in a lifetime."  
  
Xavier frowned, as he reached the controls of the computer, and began to log into the interface. "I know I may seem in control of my powers now, this minute, but I've been having lapses in concentration, moments when I can't feel my powers, much less use them, and these dreams are only a symptom of that." The Professor began to adjust the interface to the computer.  
  
The Wolverine frowned. "Maybe, yeah, you're havin' a bit of a problem with your powers," here he growled slightly, a sound as familiar to him as a sigh or a smile is to most, " but what the hell tells you to get this thing involved?" With a glance, he included the great, big, round room that housed Cerebro, as well as the mansion, its computer systems, the whole world in general. Then, with a hint of not-frown, "Why couldn't you just go see a psychiatrist, or is that too normal for you?"  
  
The professor sighed, and now the lines in his face, the pale complexion of his skin and the tight, hollow way his cheeks cling to the bones of his face becomes apparent. And the problem is not something that needs to be dealt with, not here, in this empty room with a small console for the computer and very little else. The entirety of his face and posture seem to want nothing more than rest, a release from worry, something to make whatever was eating him inside stop, and he sighs as he turns to the animal- like human behind him - human because that's what they really are, and mutant is just another ethnic group. And he speaks. "No, my friend, you know and I know that this is just too far for any doctor to comprehend, I hardly understand it myself. What I know is that there is a pocket in my mind, a place I cannot wander." His face is too pointed, the skin shrunken over the too-sharp bone, his complexion waxen as he contemplates the illness in his mind. "I cannot reach it, even in deepest concentration, what you would call meditation but with the aid of my not inconsiderable powers. No, I cannot touch it, and in my sleep it seems that something wanders there, and uses the gifts that I have for I know not what." Xavier clenched his fist suddenly, his shrunken face filled with such fury that the man behind him started, unused to such a look on his friend's face. "I cannot see it!" the professor's fist came down on the arm of his chair, and he turned to look behind him at Logan, fear touching the anger in his face. "Don't you understand? I can't touch it, can't see it, can't control it and I don't know what it's doing with this mind," he touched his temple, gingerly, "I can't risk the things it might do with my powers."  
  
"If it's real," Logan interjected. "If there's actually something there besides paranoia and fear of your own mind." He looked Xavier in the eye, no fear apparent in voice or posture. "We all worry about our powers sometimes, we all look to see if they might've altered the 'we' that's there, and they do. Our powers change us." He stood straighter, projecting as much reassurance as the animal in him would allow. "But just because they change us doesn't mean they're gonna do harm." He slouched again, and started to move towards the door. "if you're sure about this - and I won't doubt you if you're sure - I probably won't do much good inside the room. Might bounce radio waves off my bones or somethin'."  
  
Charles smiled, much of his earlier fear hidden for the moment. "I suppose you may be right, old friend. But I must have my answer." Logan raised his hand in a slight wave, and Xavier signaled in kind, as the door to Cerebro shut and sealed. Logan would not step through that door again for forty days. By that time, the land around the mansion would be so much smoking rubble and ruin.  
  
After Wolverine had exited, Xavier finished his modifications to Cerebro, and placed the helmet on his head. He had changed the code in Cerebro, temporarily, to allow him to focus the amplification of his powers that the room allowed upon himself, effectively picking apart his own head and seeing what was inside. Whatever comfort Wolverine meant to provide, the Professor knew his own mind, and something was occupying it. The closed- off area he had described had been in his dreams for three months, ever since the day of the soccer game, and it had been growing at a cancerous rate ever since that day. The first of the dreams had been right after the incident; he had dreamed that, instead of making the civilians simply forget the incident, he had made them fear it, and the brotherhood, and even the team that saved them, more than they already did. In the dream, he had fed their fear and hate until they attacked the mansion, half-crazed with the hatred he place in their hearts, and he had led the X-Men to destroy the humans with a smile on his face and glee in his heart.  
  
It was these dreams that led him to stay up nights, fearing the darkness of sleep that only brought with it images of hate and destruction, of all the things he had sworn to prevent and all the things he had seen in those poor humans' hearts. It was the fear in them, in every one of them, that had to be creating these dreams. No man should ever have to see that much fear in so many hearts, and yet he dreamed of that fear ever night, and reveled in it.  
  
It had to end. No man - human or mutant, it made no difference - no person could live like this and stay sane, if he wasn't insane already.  
  
And so he lifted the helmet, and put it on his head. And so he entered the program, and let it run. And so he looked in his own mind, and found that place easily. Only now he could see it; now he could touch it, feel it, because that dark door was open and that thing, that horrible thing formed of all the fears and nightmares of every person whose mind he had entered that day, including the fears of his own mind, that monster of power and fear and anger and hate had escaped. It had left the door open to it's growing part of his mind, and now it shut the door leaving Xavier inside; and oh, isn't it sweet, isn't it sweet to know you'll never be blamed, you'll never be blamed because it wasn't your fault. You never asked to be created, you never asked to be shut away, and you never asked to live in someone's dreams; and if that person should show you power, if that person should decide to wake you up and give you perfect access to the whole of their power through the invention of their mind and another's, if that person should give you total access to the world because they were trying to find out if you exist, well, whose fault is that?  
  
And it would be nice to say the evil monster went back to the back of Charles' mind, and it would be nice to say the monster didn't know how to work Cerebro, but the monster was free. The thing had control of Charles' powers, body, memory and mind, and it wasn't about to let go of them. It had plans to make, things to do, and the range Cerebro gave it and it's powers was sensational.  
  
The X-Men did not wake up that morning in their beds or from a natural sleep. They slid from their rest to the call of the monster's mind, they opened their eyes and moved their limbs but they did not feel or see. The X-Men were the monster's children, now, and it would do with them as it pleased. And it pleased, as a start, to destroy Bayville.  
  
  
  
  
  
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	2. Those who Stand in Shadows

Dark before the Light  
  
Warnings: Angst, possible language, so far.  
  
Pairings: None as of yet.  
  
Summary: Chuck tries to fix something; Anti-Xavier but not really. The continuing of bad things.  
  
A/N: I don't write stories very often, and this is one of my first, so when it went off the front page without a review, I thought it must be horrible and that I should never write again, I even considered taking the story down. I happened to check it today, however, and some extremely wonderful and thoughtful person read my story and liked it and took the time to write a review, and I would like to thank them very much for doing so, as I wrote this chapter right after I realized that someone liked my work. From now on, I will be more patient, but still, please review my work if you like it or if you don't, because I'm a new writer and I could use all the feedback I can get.  
  
And I'd like to thank my reviewer, again, for being kind enough to review.  
  
  
  
  
  
It started with a crash and an unusual cloud of thunder lighting the horizon. News of an energy storm had barely made the reports before the terror struck.  
  
Todd stared blankly at the TV, his hand now beginning to shake.  
  
They were destroying it.  
  
On the screen, reporters shrieked of hellfire and lightning, mad wolves and fierce strikes, bone arrows flying through the air and great red beams destroying everything in their path. And he knew them. Todd knew every single one of them, though he couldn't see their faces. He knew their powers, knew their strengths, and knew that none of them would do this. The 'Morality Troops' were all about protecting the humans for their own good, keeping the secret of mutants safe because they knew that humans couldn't deal with it.  
  
So this wasn't happening.  
  
So why wouldn't it stop?  
  
"Todd?"  
  
The frog-ish mutant turned around, shaky jade eyes focusing on the Brotherhood's leader. Lance, Pietro, Tabby and Freddy were all standing next to the couch, staring at the screen, and Todd realized that he was blocking part of their view. Guiltily, he moved back to stand next to Freddy.  
  
Lance paused, staring at the newly revealed screen as the latest camera feed shorted out. The flash of metallic claws before the static froze any hopes of simple electrical problems. "How long has it been going on?"  
  
Todd sank down to the beat-up couch, next to an unusually immobile Pietro. The blue-eyed mutant was perfectly still, his eyes trained on the screen long after the live footage had ended. Todd folded his shaking hands together as he spoke. "I- I started watchin' a few minutes ago, it was just normal, 'n then there was a storm warning," he stopped, and gave a short bark of a laugh, "Storm warning', ya know? 'S kinda funny," He smiled sickly as he began to relate the rest of the news. "Then, there was this bulletin, see, and the news kept comin' in. they kinda lost one of their traffic copters in the storm, didn't get it out in time, so they sent a search van, hopin' ta see some wrecks, I guess," he shrugged, "ya know, news guys, anythin' for a story. then they saw some lights on the hill, over the mansion, an I thought it was kinda funny, ya know? How the geeks always get all freaky about keepin' secret, and here they're gettin' sighted by some guys lookin' for a chopper."  
  
Todd stopped, looking at the television as it replayed initial footage, and there is no need for his story now as the camera shows the lights in the wood. The reporters follow the flickering lights, and there are some bad Alien and Blair Witch jokes as they fight through the woods. Then, as the camera begins to focus on the outline of the mansion, the attack starts. Flames burn above the trees and the reporters are surrounded by sheets of fire and ice. Screams deafen the viewers' ears along with static and three of the newsmen disappear beneath the fire. The camera falls, and more screaming is heard, louder now and with less static as the fire is drowned by rain. There is the flash of the silver claws, familiar now, and the camera view disappears in a flood of red light.  
  
"That was the last camera ta go beyond the woods." Todd informed them, voice dull and almost tired. "The next got 'ta the base of the hill, and then they started in the street." Lance went to the old television and turned it off, bringing the others' attention to him. "They- they're in the street, now," Todd turned hopeful, frightened eyes to his leader. "They're attackin' humans in the street, Lance, they're fightin' a fuckin' war!" Todd is shaking, but he has leapt to his feet, and is looking Avalanche in the eyes with a half-grin, half-grimace on his face. Pietro still sits, but his hands have moved to fold under his chin, and the hollows under his eyes are in shadow as he looks to the floor, his face blank and his thoughts unclear. Freddy remains standing, beside and behind Todd, and he looks with hopeless confusion and childlike hope to Lance, his leader. Tabby alone seems to know what to do, and is moving toward the stairs.  
  
Lance looks at her, eyes narrowed and face grim. "Where are you going?"  
  
She turns, face set, no laughter in her now. "Do you see what they did out there?" He does not answer, there's no point. "Do you know what they did out there, what they'll do right here if we give them a choice?" She sets her jaw, angry, determined with a stubborn will. "They'll fight us if we let them, and they'll win. I don't know why those X-Freaks decided to do war games on their front step," she turns back to the stairs and continues climbing. "But they are and if we fight them, we'll lose, or rather, you'll lose. I'm not about to waste my life on some stupid macho 'final battle.' I've got better things to do." She disappeared into Mystique's former room and the sounds of her packing carry down into the main living room of the boarding house. The three remaining brotherhood soldiers turn their eyes to their leader, even Pietro breaking out of his daze enough to recognize this symbol of authority, and Lance clenches his fists, eyes downcast as they turn to him to guide them.  
  
"Fine." He murmured, lifting his face, meeting their gaze with his own. "Tabby's out. Any of you want to go with her, feel free." Avalanche lifted his shoulders, back strait as he made his stand. "But I'm staying." Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lance has to smile grimly at the ridiculousness of it, his smile beckoning determined grins from both Pietro and Todd. If they were going to die, for no real reason except that they had to do it, so be it. "We've always fought the X-Men, always had them on one side and us on the other. Lots of times, we've wondered why. Well, whatever the reason was before, we've got a new one now." Again, the grim smiles, and even Fred has picked up on the reckless air. "We've got no other choice. Like Tabby said, they're eventually gonna make their way here, and we'll probably have to fight them. We might as well take the fight to their front first, decide the place and time ourselves. I don't feel like waiting around for death."  
  
"You idiots!" The boys turn, unhappy at this further reproach, as Tabby runs down the stairs, duffel bags in hand, and reaches the TV. "Are you even looking at what you're up against?" She turned the television on. "These guys are killing people!" The screen responds to her cry, visions of gore crowding it as another news team is attacked from further in the city. "They're killing people, they've gone Defcon whatever-it-is and are totally destroying whatever stands in their way!" She stood before them, hands on her hips. "And you're just gonna stand up ta them and say 'hey, guys, we used to fight you, wanna play?' I mean, come on, what chance have you got?" Her face turned serious as she looked to Lance for a final plea for reason. "You don't even know why they're doing this. This isn't normal, you know!"  
  
"I think I might know."  
  
Todd, Freddy, Tabby and Lance all turned as a sharp breeze hit them, and they saw that Pietro had changed to his Quicksilver outfit shortly after he spoke. Again, his voice unusually subdued, the blond mutant spoke tonelessly as he stood next to and behind Freddy, directly behind Todd. "I heard.. before. that Charles Xavier was not all that he appeared." Pietro smiled lightly, and it was a thing automatic, useless and humorless. "My- Magneto told me that, before he learned to control his powers, Xavier would have dreams, weird dreams, where he would control people. Only they weren't dreams; he was acting on subconscious desires to make the people around him do what he wanted. That's why Magneto's helmet was invented, you see. He helped Xavier invent it, using his magnetic powers and Professor Xavier's mind to create a shield to keep him from wandering in his dreams." The lights from the television screen plays over Pietro's face, and the memory of the stories seems to bring a light in his eyes, a memory of better times. "After Xavier learned to control his powers, Magneto hid the helmet for safekeeping, in case he ever needed to use it again." Pietro focuses his gaze on his new leader, his voice rising from its soft tone. "I didn't really think it was a problem, since Xavier never hurt anybody that I knew of." Pietro glanced again at the TV screen, crossing his arms, angry at himself at keeping this information until now.  
  
Tabby, however, looked almost pleased. "You see?" she spat accusingly at Avalanche. "Petey knows what he's talkin' about, that man is dangerous." She stalked up to the leader of the mutants. "So if you've got any sense at all, rock-brain, you'd better get your butt in gear and get out of here!" Her light mood fled and she glared at the other Brotherhood members, daring them to say no.  
  
Lance willingly obliged. "What Pietro is saying is that this is difficult, Tabby, not impossible." He walked to the house door and opened the coat closet, grabbing his helmet from within and putting it on. Taking his cue from Lance, Todd hopped up the stairs toward where his own costume was hidden.  
  
"But-" Tabby stood, shocked, "You'll get killed!"  
  
Lance laughed, seeing her frozen. "And?"  
  
Tabby stood for a moment, then snarled, furious. "Fine. Just- fine!" Todd hopped quickly down the stairs, in time to watch the front door slam as Tabby took off.  
  
Lance stood still for a moment before rushing out after her, having almost forgotten something. There is the sound of a brief scuffle outside before Boom-Boom's yell of "Fine! Keep the fuckin' jeep!" is heard, punctuated by small explosions.  
  
Fred glanced at the door, alarmed. "Was that Tabby, or- or one of the X- Freaks?"  
  
Pietro smiled icily. "Does it really matter? We're meeting up with them anyway."  
  
"Yeah, but Lance is outside."  
  
Pietro straitened, staring at the door as he pondered that idea, the sound of the television - still on - humming a light background noise of screams and commentary.  
  
The door opened, and Lance walked in, only slightly singed. "She's gone. Come on, let's get outta here." He walked back out the door, and Freddy followed him. Todd completed the trip from stairs to door in one leap, and Pietro paused, wondering whether he ought to turn off the TV. As he turned to the screen, a familiar image came up, one that had been playing in the background for some time. He watched, transfixed, as the sound droned on.  
  
"And here, another of the strange sights that have accompanied these attacks. This image was caught on camera by many of our brave reporters, now assumed dead. As you can see here, the projectile appears to be coming from."  
  
"Evan."  
  
The bone spike shot across the screen again, and another shot showed it heading toward the camera.  
  
"Evan's fighting in this."  
  
Pietro watched the screen again, eyes wide, before he exited the room. The door shut on the Boarding House again, the television still playing.  
  
  
  
TBC  
  
  
  
A/N: Yes, Pietro knew Evan was an X-Man, that's pretty much given, it's just that he might not have realized conciously and emotionally that he may have to fight his former friend. I know this chapter wasn't much action, and neither was the prolougue, but I hope to have a lot of fight scenes in the next few chapters, though they might take a little longer to get out. Please R/R!  
  
  
  
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	3. The One who Falls

Dark before the Light  
  
Warnings: Angst, language, some violence, so far.  
  
Pairings: None as of yet.  
  
Summary: Chuck tries to fix something; Anti-Xavier but not really. More bad things + violence.  
  
A/N: Reviews! I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, seeing that people liked this story has greatly encouraged me to write, and I'd like to thank all of you so much for reviewing my story. I know these are kind of short chapters, but I'm still pretty new at this and I'm trying to make sure I do it right. This chapter starts out immediately after "Those who Stand in Shadows."  
  
Okay, ~ Whatever. ~ equals thoughts, and  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
signals a scene switch. R/R!  
  
  
  
  
  
Pietro only took a moment to get to the jeep. It was started and waiting on the road, and the lines of fire in the distance seemed to flicker just slightly as the boys began to drive. The road was slick with rainfall and the jeep slipped slightly under Avalanche's hand as they sped toward the fighting ground. The main road was clogged with debris and traffic as frantic citizens tried to flee the havoc; the land behind them was burned, the fragile houses and storefronts seeming to shatter with each crash of thunder, and wave after wave of sound hit the vehicles as rubble crashed onto the streets. Lance calmly turned onto what back streets and alleys they could find, and in a moment they saw the carnage.  
  
Red light swirled rhythmically from the remains of a police car amid the rubble. The vehicle was turned on itself, the roof and blue light crushed to the ground. The side the car had landed on, thrown from an unimaginable height, spread outward in a smooth puddle of metal and wires. A man looked out from a cracked window, face frozen in puzzlement, eyes wide and broken in death. The lone light shone on him at intervals, bathing the pale skin in dark red.  
  
The Brotherhood stood frozen by this sight, a crash to their left taking the boys by surprise. Red light, bright and powerful and deadly, speared through a building beside them, shearing the cop car's rear bumper and scraping the car itself across the road a good four feet. The four boys jumped out of the jeep, sheltering behind it as the house, punctured by the red beam, collapsed onto the street.  
  
Pietro glanced up, the first to recover from the shockwave, and his eyes were drawn to the remains of the cop car again. The broken body had been hidden, crushed with the rest of the car under the building's rubble and buried under clouds of dust from the crash. Quicksilver turned from the sight to look across the jeep, seeking the source of the familiar red light. There, standing behind the rubble, a familiar figure. Scott's optic blasts must have been shielded, no light was emitting from his eyes.  
  
Pietro blinked, focusing on the figure a dozen or so yards away. The dust cleared, so slowly, and he saw what was happening. Scott stood facing them, eyes closed, waiting behind the rubble and the dirt. He had simply closed his eyes to protect them from the dust.  
  
Pietro jumped, grabbing Todd's arm and turning to Lance, who had also seen Summers. "Lance- "  
  
Avalanche tensed, ready to dodge. "Take Todd. Run!."  
  
Scott, still facing them, opened his eyes.  
  
In a blur, both Quicksilver and the mutant Toad were gone, Avalanche barely missed by the beam of energy as he jumped. The bright red light hit the Brotherhood's jeep full-on, Freddy Dukes taking the full force of the blow. And quickly getting pissed off.  
  
The jeep slammed against Freddy's stomach, screeching as the metal bent around him, the car unable to withstand the force of Cyclops' blasts. In one movement, Freddy Dukes lifted the damaged vehicle and threw it strait at the other mutant.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
When Avalanche leapt away from jeep, he went ran down an alleyway across the street from where the house had stood. Hoping to get at Summers from another direction, he followed the street until it hit another road, turning there to eventually intersect the road Freddy and Summers were on. He had sighted yet another road, and planned to turn there, when the rattling sounded behind him.  
  
Lance turned, shaken, wondering hopefully if any pets had survived in this neighborhood, dogs or something that might make that sound.  
  
The rattling grew louder as the rubble strewn about in these fight zones shook rhythmically, and Lance just had time to spot the red-haired X-Man as he was psychically thrown into a wall.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
Pietro ran, fast and far, trying to get somewhere safe before he went back to fight Summers. Freddy might not need much help if Scott was alone, but if any other X-Men showed up, he might . . . and as much as he hated to admit it, Pietro didn't see any way that Todd could help them against the kind of powers these guys were showing; the uncontrolled, deadly force had snapped the Speedster out of whatever kind of shock he had slipped into after the news reports. Pietro, Freddy, and Lance might decide to die fighting the X-Men, but Todd . . . didn't deserve that.  
  
Pietro paused, hiding behind a butcher's shop as he tried to determine just how far he had run. He wasn't that tired, but that was really no indicator, especially when he was scared.  
  
"Hey, Quickie, let me down, yo." Todd glared at him, and Pietro realized the other mutant had been complaining for the last few seconds while he was thinking.  
  
Pietro put Todd down, glancing around him for a second. This place looked clear, little rubble and no wrecks, it was likely that Xavier's students hadn't been there yet. Pietro turned back to the younger mutant, who looked around, confused. The trip to this place had taken only a few seconds, and Todd was probably uncertain as to where they were. Good. If he didn't know where they were fighting, he might not get in the way.  
  
Or get hurt.  
  
"Todd, listen, I've been thinking, and I'm gonna go back and find Lance again and try to help him and Freddy. I know you wanted to help us, but it'd be better if you stayed here," Pietro glanced around at the buildings again, trying to be certain that it was safe. "You can just hang out here unti-"  
  
"What?!" Todd stared at Pietro only a second before his eyes narrowed in anger. "Listen, Quickie, I signed up for this, same as you, so don't you even think I'm just gonna go along wi' you leavin' me here! I ain't gonna wait here for any of you guys-"  
  
"Dammit, Todd, we won't be coming back!"  
  
"You think I don't know that?"  
  
Pietro put his hands to his head, clenching his teeth in frustration. He grabbed Todd by the shoulders. "This is a suicide thing, Todd! This is us fighting because we've got nothing else to do and we know we're gonna die. We're going to die, Todd, the three of us, and I don't want you dying too!"  
  
"Why?" Todd stepped back, jerking out of Pietro's grip. "Why the hell do you think I should live if all of you guys die? That ain't fair, Pietro, you can't decide that for me." Todd stared at his friend determinedly, face set. "Maybe I don't want you guys to die either, but you chose to fight, and I did too, so I guess we're gonna die together."  
  
Pietro stood suddenly, eyes sad. "No, we're not, Todd. I- I've got enough shit on my conscience as it is, I'm not gonna add this to the list. You don't know the way back from here, Todd, and I won't show you. I-" He stopped, shook his head, and was gone.  
  
Todd only stared a moment at where Quicksilver had been, the tell-tale breeze showing the direction he had run in. Todd clenched his fists, cursing, then turned, eyeing the buildings around him, and began climbing the wall of the butchers' shop. From the top of it, he would be able to see across the block. From the store on the other side, he could probably see across the neighborhood; if that didn't work, a building a few hops over would let him see the whole city if he wished.  
  
Todd hopped onto the first rooftop, and, unable to see any sign of the fight against Summers, began to walk across it to the second building he had been eyeing. A soft wind brushed over the roof, and the scratching sound of a scrap of paper over the roof tiles made him turn. The other mutant rose like a ghost through the surface of the roof, and when she had risen to the appropriate level, Shadowcat settled gently down on the rooftop, smiling serenely.  
  
Todd's eyes were locked on her when Nightcrawler dropped out of the sky directly on top of him.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
The jeep flew over Scott's red beams, and as he turned to look at it, the vehicle went soaring over the landscape, matching dents pressing in its sides.  
  
Freddy Dukes wasted no time after throwing the car, rushing toward the leader of the X-Men while he was distracted. The returning red rays barely slowed the Blob down, and Summers was forced to step aside as the larger mutant ran after him. Jumping nimbly over piles of rubble, Cyclops seemed to abandon the battle, his power turned on the land around him as he sought a way away from the monstrous mutant.  
  
Freddy chased Summers doggedly, certain that Pietro or Lance would return in time to trip Summers up enough that Freddy could catch up with him. Before this could happen, though, Cyclops had run to a fenced-in alley and, eyes closed to shield their blasts, had somehow managed to climb over. It should only have taken the Blob a few seconds to crash through after Scott, but someone else intervened.  
  
To an observer, had any been there to see it, it would have seemed absurd. For a moment, the huge boy only stood there, a strange look upon his face, and then he began to scream. The loud, booming, continuos sound would have to have frightened the supposed observer; the shriek's animalistic qualities, the fierce, howling way it was uttered; the way the young man began swinging his hands, clawing at the air, at the unseen threat that had reached to his mind, all might have driven anyone watching to near insanity at the ridiculousness of the pose, the transformation from a determined fighter to a shrieking, frightened child.  
  
After some time, the young mutant froze, shaking only slightly as he glanced around at his surroundings. From the other side of the fence, another mutant appeared, simply blasting the barrier with his now open eyes to proceed through. Freddy Dukes barely glanced at the other young man, instead starting off to the west, the way that he had come. Scott Summers went east, back toward the mansion.  
  
The monster in Xavier had gained another toy.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
Pietro cursed himself lightly for deserting Todd like that, but it was better that Todd be alive and unhappy than dead with his friends.  
  
Pietro stopped at a crosswalk, torn between leaving Todd, as he had planned, and going back for the other boy. He didn't want Todd to die, but he didn't want Lance to die either, and he wasn't stopping Lance from fighting . . . mainly because Lance was their leader, and too big to carry besides, but still . . .  
  
He'd go back for Todd.  
  
Pietro nodded to himself, decided. Todd wanted to fight with them this last time, and it would be selfish of him to make the boy stay out of it. Pietro had better hurry, too. He had wasted almost three seconds thinking.  
  
Three seconds is more than long enough for a stray breeze to be recognized as a person, especially if they stopped in the middle of the road.  
  
Before Pietro had moved, a line of spikes appeared blocking the road the way he was heading. Pietro turned in time to see another row of spikes land, blocking the other side of the road. Pietro turned again, eyes wide as he saw the source of the weapons walk casually toward him from one of the broken houses lining this street. As he watched, another line of bone spikes sprouted from Evan's arms, extending outward like a fan from shoulder to elbow. Pietro found himself almost shaking when he saw the lifeless, deadened quality of Evan's dark brown eyes. This time he had the sense to dodge when the spikes flew at him.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
Lance tried to breath as he was held against the wall a good two or three feet above the ground. His vision started growing spotty as he couldn't breathe, and did he blink or was the lack of air worse than he thought? Avalanche focused on the situation. He couldn't brace himself against the wall enough to offer any kind of resistance to Jean's psychic force, and the way it limited his breathing was probably a cause for worry. Still, Jean's power had limits - he had seen that while he stayed at the institute - and she couldn't keep him here long enough to choke to death him if he stayed cool and didn't panic.  
  
He hoped.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
Todd blinked uncertainly, aware of blacking out for a moment but uncertain as to why. The answer came when he felt a pair of furry hands wrap around his neck.  
  
The mutant Toad grabbed Nightcrawler's wrists in his own, looking the other mutant in the face to see that his eyes, normally gold to the point of luminescence, were now cold, dark, like dead wood or metal. Todd fell back on the roof - it seemed he had only fainted for a second - and brought his legs up, kicking the blue mutant in the stomach.  
  
Todd never used his leg muscles offensively. Those legs let him jump twenty feet in the air, and could launch him across a room in seconds. He had never let himself find out before what that kind of power could do to a person. It was kind of scary.  
  
The kick sounded a series of pops in Nightcrawler's ribs, and Todd felt more than one snap as he sent Kurt flying off of the building, landing on the roof of a laundry next door. Todd stood on shaking feet, his back to the tall hotel that had been his objective before Kitty showed up. She was still standing there, and as he watched her the dead smile she had sported slowly turned to a grimace of pure hatred. She was still in her night clothes, and the cruel way she bared her teeth was in complete contrast with the pink cotton bedclothes, her matching sweater pulled over the top against the cold.  
  
Shadowcat ran toward him, and Todd jumped to the side just as she phased through the floor.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
Pietro stopped in front of the line of spikes blocking his way back to Todd, and ran again as another bone spear nearly grazed his arm. Evan was walking toward him, the bone walls on either side meeting the peach siding of the house behind him. As he looked as the walls of bone around him, Pietro wondered at how much of his own skeleton Evan had lost.  
  
Spyke stopped moving forward a few yards from Quicksilver, dead eyes narrowed sharply. For a moment, Pietro thought he sensed a light buzzing in his head, then dismissed it, focussing on the fight. He had to get past Evan, stop him somehow if possible. Lance was probably cursing him right now for being late. Pietro glared at the mock-Evan, watching as the monster moved Evan's body to the left slightly, Evan's right arm extending several thick, short spikes like throwing knives. Pietro smiled, seeing enough room to escape.  
  
~ Fine, I'll deal with Evan later. Right now, I've gotta help Lance and Freddy deal with Scott. It must have been seven minutes already. ~  
  
Pietro ran quickly at the opening between where Evan's body stood and the wall of bone. When he ran, he activated his powers more than usual. When he activated his powers, a small trap in his mind went off. For a second, he was unconscious.  
  
When Pietro woke up, Evan's hand was around his neck, the spikes extending from it scratching at his throat.  
  
  
  
~-=*=-~  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: I know there wasn't all that much action in this chapter - I can't seem to write an action sequence very smoothly - but the next couple of sections might be all action, or I might just shorten the fight stuff, depending on how it goes over with the reviewers. I value all reviewer's input, so please take the time to review if you haven't done so already. Again, I'd like to thank those viewers who have already reviewed, it really makes me happy to read them all.  
  
  
  
  
  
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